Kumar implicates others in CA accounting scandal

SANJAY KUMAR, the ex-head honcho at Computer Associates (CA) who is now serving 12 years in jail for his role in a multi-billion dollar company fraud, has rolled over on several of his former cronies.

In April 2006, Kumar admitted charges of conspiracy, securities fraud and obstruction of justice, following the accounting irregularities which saw the company misstating $2.2 billion in revenue over a period of years.

In a sworn affidavit recently filed in the New York Eastern District Court, Kumar said that the "35-day month" practice he was sent down the river for, was already "firmly entrenched" when he started at the company. In the filing he alleged that Charles Wang, a co-founder of CA "personally directed the implementation of this practice in my presence," and that Alfonse D'Amato, an ex-US Senator and current CA director, Lewis Ranieri, ex-chairman of the board and co-founder Russell Artzt all knew what was going on.

Kumar even went as far as accusing the CA's Special Litigation Committee (SLC) investigating the scandal of covering up the facts to protect Wang.

CA responded with a statement dismissing Kumar's claims saying that: "The SLC made every effort to investigate and corroborate the information used for its report, and directed the Company to take action based on that report. In a matter of this complexity, one cannot draw conclusions from the uncorroborated recollections of a single individual.

It added that "The Special Litigation Committee of the Board of Directors conducted a thorough, multi-year investigation that included interviews with Mr. Kumar, along with conducting ninety interviews of CA's current and former directors, officers, employees, and outside advisors; reviewing millions of pages of documents; and, hiring four expert consultants, to produce two comprehensive reports that have been released to the public."

A spokesman for D'Amato and Ranieri also slammed Kumar's accusations saying: "It is regrettable that, from jail, Mr Kumar continues to be a stranger to the truth."

It is now up to the Federal courts to decide if Kumar's statements carry enough weight to warrant further investigation. µ